Comments on: When Words Fail

By: Michele

Michele — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:35:51 +0000

Thank you so much, Eric, for putting Roger on your ‘fierce’ prayer list. I will give him your message. They resonate from your personal experience.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:43:16 +0000

Michele,
It is clear that your brother is in pain, and I will offer “fierce prayers” for him. I just put him on my prayer list. I reluctantly offer a bit of advice, hoping it has some meaning to him. I reached a point (and it sometimes visits me again) where there is a decision, despair or trust God. Despair is a dead end. Trust can provide the energy to keep struggling to find a solution and to accept the support of those who love you, especially God.

By: Michele

Michele — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:20:04 +0000

I am posting late to this conversation because when Paul first posted it I could not find words. I had just received a not from my brother who wrote “There are many times when I think God has forgotten me…” He is unemployed from a job he loved and was good at. I am always holding him in prayer, invoking our parents, our sister and brother, but I still feel helpless. Sometimes things do not ‘work out fine’–at least in the ‘fineness’ that we might expect. People lose so much when they are unemployed, financially and materially, yes, but much more–dignity, self-esteem, hope, dreams. I know deep down “there’s a gift here someplace” but conveying that message to someone who is struggling is very difficult.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:51:55 +0000

Today I sent an email to Professor Marty Stortz telling her of the appreciation her “fierce prayers” received from all of you. I assume she will be pleased.

I also want to thank James for reminding me of the author David Fleming, S.J. I used to use his contemporary reading of the Spiritual Exercises for retreats. I hope I will be able to find a copy of it.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:32:38 +0000

Marg & Mee-Kuon,

I join with you in praying fiercely for all those who are unemployed. Marg, you’re right, too, about it encompassing all of us.

Paul

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:30:30 +0000

Michelle,

Yes, it is humbling to witness the humility of others when they find themselves unemployed. Thanks, too, for the reminder to tell people that I intend to pray for them by name.

Paul

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:27:12 +0000

James,

Thank you for your perspective. How amazing that you found St. Ignatius in the middle of it all and that the “Principle & Foundation” entered your spiritual vocabulary. I love the “Principle & Foundation” but I think many people find it difficult to grasp (even though or, maybe, because it is very simple!)

The advice to “keep on carrying on” no matter what is great.

Paul

By: mee-kuon

mee-kuon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 05:29:19 +0000

I have a friend who has being unemployed over a year. Yes, through prayers we have supported her and hope that she got a job every time she went for an interview. She is still with out a job. So we continue ‘fierce’ prayers for all unemployed and families.

By: marg

marg — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:00:47 +0000

James, you have expressed so much of what I have felt in tough situations. We all have them in one form or another. Praying fiercely? You bet I have! Looking for God, looking for every little miracle I could find? Yes indeed. Life is journey, God is our companion. A little quote out of an old prayer book, something like “He who made the day will show the way, so I securely go.” That’s from memory, but you get the idea!

So let us pray fiercely not only for those in need in our immediate circle, but to all who are in dire straits with economic/job problems. It is a problem for all of us, not just the unemployed.

M.
M.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:52:19 +0000

I had coffee with a former student yesterday, and the sole wage earner in a household with young children- who had just been laid off, so this was an apt post today. She is willing to do whatever it takes, and I was humbled by her openess in that regard.

I, too, like Eric’s professor’s notion of “fierce” prayers. When I faced surgery last fall, a Jesuit friend assured me he would “pray for me by name” that day. Somehow both descriptions communicate a particular care, in these situations where a platitude feels stiff, but an attitude does not (ouch – I did not intend that awful rhyme! ).